sow the thought seeds

...the edition spring 2009..e               <

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Recognise the month's cover fragment? All is revealed in Cover Story, see entry 17

<foreword>

P+P rip off charges?  Nobody wants to see them and, since last autumn, <the edition> has introduced a fair share post policy which sees many freepost books and all others with subsidised domestic p+p.   But now eBay has got in on the act, and in such a clumsy fashion that it threatens to throw the good venders out with the dishwater. 

eBay's policy review means a flat £2.75 cap on domestic postage except for some 'courier' services for heavy items (which eBay promises to watch) and a £4.50 flat cap for antiquarian books some of which may be valued at several thousand pounds but which will not be able to reflect this in the shipping charge.  It is the clumsiest way of dealing with postal rip-off imaginable.

Putting a cap on postal prices for books is not the solution to rip off p+p charges.  Honest sellers will now have to think twice about selling either heavy or rare books (the latter because postage services that protect the full value of the book will fall outside the cap).

eBay has told me that venders  should absorb the shortfall, and stick the price of the book up.  But how is that playing fair to consumers?  All the vender is doing is balancing one charge against another.   But eBay would say that ... it gets a bigger slice of the selling price for absolutely no added value.  Can eBay be serious about the message it is sending? -- is it trying to kurb unfair p+p practices ... or make more profit? 

Booksellers are encouraged to go the 'courier - heavy' route, but eBay has told me they will lose international visibility.  They will not be able to include international tariffs on their listings and this will effectively rob them of international site visibility.  I can't work out if that is an eBay punishment, oversight, or plain-and-simple short-sightedness.

This entire unhappy affair can only result in bad news for reader and vender alike.  There is bound to be a loss of quality and variety of books for sale on eBay as, either venders migrate to more book-oriented venues, or they use eBay to list only b-grade paperback stock, saving their good stuff for venues that don't penalise them.  If this happens the gradual erosion of quality stock will be accompanied by a gradual erosion of book-buying customers.

eBay, if it is serious about preventing p+p rip off, should have started at the cheap end where the practice is far more prevalent.  As it is, a lot of very slim paperbacks will be flying out at a very reasonable 99 pence but with a very unreasonable £2.75 post tag.  At <the edition> books below the weight of 200g unpacked, and which fall under the domestic tarrif 'large letter', are sent out without p+p charge.  All other books are already subsidised for domestic post, including books that require higher insurance.  What a shame eBay didn't consult its honest book venders before such a clumsy and damaging policy was rolled out.

Happy Reading,

dene october

A new year and time for a new you ... books in the Resolutions theme focus on self-help and self health - spiritual and mental as well as bodily.  For new ways of thinking and being have a look at the Resolutions stock at the edition books. Navigation aid: to check for Resolutions stock either enter the word Resolutions in the search window or select the Lifestyle Change category at the edition bookstore.

<book grading guide>

The following is the system used for grading books ~

Mint ~ New or as new, clearly unread, no tanning to pages, no creasing to spine or cover, no marks or inscriptions. This is the condition you would expect to find in a high street bookstore or on mail-order.

Excellent ~ The book appears to be in fine condition. A closer look reveals some signs of previous ownership, such as shelf-rubbing and in some cases an inscription. Yet on the whole, the book is perfect.

Very Good + ~ Less than excellent condition with no more than mild tanning or foxing to pages, minor creasing to spine or cover, possible shop sticker/pencilled price or previous owner name, but no other marks or inscriptions. This is still a tight and bright copy.

Very Good ~ The book shows clear signs of previous ownership / shelf wear. There may be some tanning / foxing to pages, slight creases to spine or cover, inscriptions from previous owner (typically their name or words of presentation).

Good + ~ The book cover and contents may have faded in colour and there may be creases, wear and inscriptions. However the book is still intact and readable and there is no loosening to spine or pages.

Good ~ This is an acceptable reading copy and there may be several of the reported problems above as associated with age and/or mishandling.

Poor ~ A book such as this is sent to auction for reasons such as the edition's rarity. This will probably not make an acceptable reading copy, and is more likely to have value in relation to its collectable status.

N.B. where a double grading is given, the latter refers to the dust-jacket, wrapper or cover

This grading guide is updated monthly to save you scrolling through archives. 

<in this issue>

01 <foreword>

02 <resolutions>

03 <book grading guide>

04 <in this issue>

05 <biblio-key: book glossary>

06 <book worm>

07 <briefing: book trends>

08 <thematic: identify the edition themes>

09 <feature story: book clinic>

---------------------------------------- NEXT PAGE 

10 <fiver: hairpiece>

11 <feature: deepak chopra>

12 <post+pack tariff>

13 <gift wrap>

14 <bespoke packaging>

15 <book search>

16 <cover story>

17 <endnotes>

<biblio-key: french flaps>

French flaps (like the 'Pink' title by Gus Van Sant illustrated) are the folded in extensions to the covers of paperbacks.  They are increasingly used to add weight and substance to paperback original first editions.  Not only do the flaps frame the book visually, they are tactile, playful and make great bookmarks -- navigating the book is like crossing the Equator and requires you to flip flaps.  French flaps are excellent depositories for synopsis and author biography ... and perhaps even proof that you can occasionally judge a book by its cover.

<book worm>

<briefing: guilty secrets>

<thematic>

how to identify themes at the edition

Just like a regular bookstore, the edition online bookstore contains 'aisles' with categories to help you find your book.  In addition to this, the edition uses buzzwords which you can place into the search windows to find groups of similar books.

For example,  if you are trying to find Naomi Klein's No Logo, go to the online bookstore, take a virtual stroll down the Philosophy & Theory aisle until you get to Social Theory, and there it should be, if it's in stock.  Or, if you want similar books, type Viewpoint into the eBay or Auctiva search window, and you will get a list of stock relevant to that cue word.

Change the cue word to Resolutions, you get books on lifestyle change (exercise, inspiration, spirituality etc).  Type cult and you get a list of the edition fiction stock.  And so on.

Here is a full list of these buzzwords.  For an alternative way of searching books, type one into an eBay window now and see what comes up.

→books in the cult fiction theme are fictional books.  The edition fiction stock comprises mainly cult, contemporary, world and genres like science fiction.  Vintage books are stocked separately (see below).  To  have a look at the fiction menu, type the word CULT! into your eBay window

→books in the Past Master theme focus on history, geography and travel.  Type PASTmaster into your search window to view this stock

→books in the Resolutions theme focus on self-help and self health - spiritual and mental as well as bodily.  For new ways of thinking and being, have a look at the Resolutions theme

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

<S*O*S book rescue>

<When your library has a flood, who ya gonna call?>

It's hard to visualise the unglamorous world of document salvage when you're brunching with Georgine Thorburn at a glamorous Kings Road cafe. Instead of a raging North Sea inferno, there's the mere blue trail of next table’s Gitanes snaking along the terrace. A bottle of mineral water too, but no sign of drenched paperwork. Then there’s Georgie girl herself, part of the Chelsea furniture, every bit as comfortable in Sloane Square as she is at disaster sites.

‘We're currently working with a civil engineering firm,’ she tells me. ‘They had a major fire gutting one third of their office and leaving the rest heavily smoke damaged. We got the call out two days ago, held a crisis meeting with the management, then went into a frantic pace to get the rescue team together and fitted out with all the right health and safety equipment.’

The right safety gear means masks, hard hats and white overalls marked Document SOS, the name of Georgie’s company, while her team includes leading paper conservationists and art specialists. Chalk and cheese, you’d think. ‘But when you have a big fire like this’, Georgie points out, ‘it’s all hands on deck.’

‘One day we could be called to a sixteenth century archive, restoring irreplaceable antiquarian books. Then it could be a merchant bank. We’ve been involved in all three City bombs. Our work is varied. The other day we were called to a nuclear power station to sort out a mould problem in their ultra sensitive record store. None of the documentation could come out, of course, so we had to do everything on site.’

With water damage, the books swell, the sewing starts to split and before you know it there’s no book

The clients needs vary too, and aside from books the range of restorable artefacts includes videotapes, artwork, magazines, scripts, and audio­spools. ‘We're working on a copy of a mustering roll from the American Civil War and a letter with John Lennon’s signature on.’

‘Everything has to be handled according to what it is, and labelled as to where it came from. People rarely have a floor plan, so we have to do that, detailing where each desk and filing cabinet was. Clients will often request specific legal documents because they need them very quickly. We need to know exactly where everything is.’

‘The criterion for a job depends on its content. For a public library, it is imperative that the books are back as clean as new. We remove all the smoke, smell and acidic residue. One librarian said to me, I want my books back in a condition I can go to bed with.’

The Document SOS, portfolio makes impressive viewing. ‘Before’ shots of arson damaged books are compared with seemingly impossible mint condition ‘after’ shots. Paper work glued together by water ends up in better order than my in-tray.  

‘With legal business documentation, the criterion is usually to have it in a readable and useable order. But you have to he careful. You can’t use chemicals that will deteriorate the paper if the document has to last the lifespan of the company.’

Business continuity planning for hard copy is currently an in-topic but Georgie is incredulous about much of the misinformation. ‘There are booklets that recommend human chains to retrieve historic material. I mean, that just doesn’t happen. You can’t remove a book the size of a table this way. Try to and it causes more damage.’

‘The practical world is very different,’ she says. 'If you have a fire, you contact your insurance company, they contact the loss adjuster and the salvage work waits while the money is counted. But it's important that the adjuster has the means to say “Do it: start the salvage”.  It’s a bit like Countdown. We’re against the clock. When there’s water damage, the books swell, the sewing starts to split and before you know it there’s no book. We need to get there quickly and freeze the material to halt the damage and prevent mould growth. Then you can buy as much time as you want for insurance queries.

Document SOS has virtually unlimited frozen and chill storage, as well as an enormous dry fast chamber based on select air-drying methods that can accommodate 70 crates a week. Georgie, and two fellow students from London’s Camberwell College of Arts, started pioneering these techniques in 1987, adapting it from  art restoration.

99% of material can be restored to how it was before the incident

‘A lot of it was trial and error. The field is so new – it really only started in the 1970s. Occasionally I wonder how to approach a situation so I still consult with my old tutor, Bill Topping. I also keep in contact with fellow students who have all ended up in very interesting places. We have reunions and swap advice on salvage. There’s a liberal exchange of information, which is very important for progress in this field.’

‘I fell into the Conservation course by fluke,’ she recalls, laughing. ‘At school, I'd always managed to limbo dance under the fence of physics, chemistry and biology. Suddenly, a third of my course was chemistry. I didn’t even know the difference between an atom and a molecule. It wasn't so much a learning curve as a learning vertical.’

‘At the end of four years, disaster planning was becoming a buzzword. I had submitted my thesis on a small brewery museum in Hertford. Then Camberwell College got a call from a flooded picture library. Eight of us jumped into cabs --Ghostbusters to the rescue! We stemmed the water, took out photographs... and I was bitten. Clearly I didn't really see myself growing cobwebs in a museum basement, but actually I’d spent the last four years preparing for just that. As it was, the salvage team who followed us in closed down shortly afterwards, and this huge niche opened up before me.’

‘The work is all consuming, it takes all of my life,’ Georgie says, ‘but it gives me huge satisfaction to see distressed clients, who think their living has gone out of the window, realise that 99% of the material can be restored to how it was before the incident. I guess that makes me the Mother Theresa of the document world.